Well, a weekend ago (May 16-17), Lawrence University held their own “White Privilege Symposium”. Lawrence University is also in Wisconsin. Who knew the Cheese state was so racially obsessed? Just in case you were wondering, this is indeed 2014…

LUCC’s Committee On Diversity Affairs is holding a 3-day symposium this week to engage in and discuss issues of white privilege on and off campus. Two workshops will be held each day with topics ranging from racial history your teachers never taught you to the Social conditioning of black womyn. We welcome all (students, staff, and faculty) to come and discuss these issues freely in a Lawrence community conversation!

Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself Part II: Interrupting White Privilege (7pm-9pm in Pusey Room, Warch)
What do you do if you see white privilege asserting itself? What do you do when someone shares that you’ve been asserting privilege and you didn’t realize it? This workshop will examine how to recognize privilege and how to interrupt it in the service of relationships, community, and justice. We will examine the racialized similarities and differences in what it means to intervene as allies and how to receive feedback about your own use of privilege by focusing on compassion, humility, reflection, and mindful listening.

The In Between: Being Hispanic in a Black-White Binary (7pm-9pm in Mead-Witter Room (Next to Esch-Hurvis))
This workshop will explore the dynamics of Hispanic/Latin@ s experienced in a predominantly Black-White Binary in relation to American race relations. The workshop will shed light on Hispanic/latin@ culture, stereotypes, and misconceptions beyond the Lawrence bubble.

Umm, ok. “Check yourself before you wreck yourself: Interrupting White Privilege”???? How exactly do you spot said “White Privilege”? I wonder what kind of interventions they suggested? Do you tap someone on the shoulder and tell them to shove their Grey Poupon where the Sun doesn’t shine? I can see it now…

I found some descriptions of the sessions cached on the Lawrence Calendar:

Friday, May 16, 2014

White Privilege Symposium:Interrupting White Privilege7:00pmWarch Campus Center 325 – Nathan Marsh Pusey RoomLUCC’s Committee On Diversity is holding a White Privilege Symposium to discuss issues of privilege, power and oppression. What do you do if you see white privilege asserting itself? What do you do when someone shares that you’ve been asserting privilege and you didn’t realize it? This workshop will examine how to recognize privilege and how to interrupt it in the service of relationships, community, and justice. We will examine the racialized similarities and differences in what it means to intervene as allies and how to receive feedback about your own use of privilege by focusing on compassion, humility, reflection and mindful listening.

White Privilege Symposium:The In-Between: Being Latin@ In A Black-White Binary7:00pmWarch Campus Center 226 – Mead Witter RoomLUCC’s Committee On Diversity Affairs is holding a White Privilege Symposium to discuss issues of privilege, power and oppression. This workshop will explore the dynamics of Hispanic/Latin@ experienced in a predominantly black-white binary in relation to American race relations. The workshop will shed light on Hispanic/Latin@ culture, stereotypes and misconceptions beyond the Lawrence bubble. Come join the conversation!

Saturday, May 17, 2014

White Privilege Symposium:White Supremacy and Appropriation1:00pmWarch Campus Center 204 – CinemaLUCC’s Committee On Diversity Affairs is holding a White Privilege Symposium to discuss issues of privilege, power, and oppression. This workshop will analyze whiteness as a system, especially as it exists as a driving force within institutions. We will also examine how cultural references become appropriation of other cultures within a white-washed system. This space will also provide a place to have a larger conversation about how to identify and work against cultural appropriation. Come join the conversation!

If you scrolled down to see what else was coming up, this one below caught my eye – Riots! Not Diets! The Fat Activist Revolution. Apparently, Fat Activism is a thing. They’re going to be watching the documentary film “Aquaporko“. I’m not mocking overweight folks here, I support everyone’s desire to be treated fairly, but this session is written up like some kind of Occupy parody. Unhelpful in being taken seriously.

Riots Not Diets! The Fat Activist Revolution7:30pmWarch Campus Center 204 – CinemaThis will be an evening of activism and entertainment focused around fat activism with Lawrence’s new director of film studies, Amy Abugo Ongiri. It will ask the following questions:• How does fat activism fit into a larger project of liberation?

• Can you really be healthy at any size?

• Is the obesity epidemic a myth?

• Can resisting monolithic ideas of beauty and the body connect you to larger cultures of resistance like anti-racism, feminism and queer activism?

The evening will include a screening of the 2013 documentary “Aquaporko.” The film profiles a fat queer synchronized swim team in Sydney, Australia.

Amy Abugo Ongiri is a scholar of visual culture and Africana studies. She is a founder of Heavyweights Fat Fight Club, a boxing club for people of all abilities. She is a board member of the NOLOSE, a national fat queer organization that is committed to feminist, anti-oppression action and ideology that seeks to end the oppression of fat people.

Share this:

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

About ladyliberty1885

A.P. Dillon resides in the Triangle area of North Carolina and is the founder of LadyLiberty1885.com. Her current and past writing can also be found at Da Tech Guy Blog, StopCommonCoreNC.org, WatchdogWireNC and WizBang.
Her current writing project is a children’s book series.